The Cornwall Blog

Photo by John Hersey In March 2025, Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery reopened in the heart of Truro following a major phase of its transformation. Supported by £2.3 million from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, the work refreshed several of the museum’s principal spaces and returned more of its art collection to public view. Formerly known as the Royal Cornwall Museum, it adopted its new name in February 2025 to reflect the importance of both its art collection and its wider programme of Cornish history, culture and natural heritage. A museum transformed The institution’s story stretches back to 1818, when the Royal Institution of Cornwall was founded. Today, the museum cares for more than one million objects, artworks, photographs and artefacts, helping to tell the story of Cornwall and its connections with the wider world. The permanent collections include the Heart of Cornwall Gallery, Mineral Gallery, Nature Gallery, Art Gallery and Ancient Civil...

The search is on for a winning new pasty flavour to celebrate the ninth Cornwall Food & Drink Festival, which is taking place from 28th to 30th September on Truro’s Lemon Quay. Do you have a favourite pasty recipe that you think visitors to the festival would enjoy? If so, this is your chance to shine. Open to all amateur cooks and recipe creators, Simply Cornish, one of this year’s festival sponsors, is looking for a new pasty to become the flavour of the festival. The winning pasty will go on sale at the Simply Cornish stand in the festival’s Croust Bar and the winner will receive a box of their special flavour pasties and a fantastic Simply Cornish hamper full of tasty Cornish produce. Jason Jobling, Business Development Manager for Simply Cornish - part of Warren’s Bakery – is delighted with the idea. “We really love being part of Cornwall Food & Drink Festival and we’re excited about creating a new pasty that can be launched there. While the traditional Cornish ...

Fire fears disrupted a Truro concert held to mark 30 years of the city being twinned with Morlaix in France. Organised by the Truro Morlaix Twinning Associaton, the concert was due to start at 3pm on April 18 in the Mayor's Parlour at Truro City Hall. However, just as the conductor stood with baton poised for the music to begin, the hall’s fire alarm sounded. The audience, along with musicians from France and Cornwall, hastily evacuated the building. The concerned crowd then waited for half an hour in Boscawen Street whilst the fire brigade searched the building. Finally the all clear was given and the rest of the concert passed off without a hitch, except for local cellist David Hoskin being temporarily stuck in a lift with one of the more mature French female musicians. The orchestra – composed of members of renowned string group the St Mewan Sinfonia and Morlaix’s L’Orchestre de Patio – played a well received programme of works by Bach, Grieg, Vivaldi and Brahms. The concert, wh...

Here at last is some good news for city execs under pressure, looking for an investment in fine art to shelter their hard earned cash…. In today’s climate, few could afford the £50million original, most missed out on the Sotheby’s £111million auction and many have credit which has finally crunched. But fortunately Driftwood Gallery in Truro has come to their rescue, and proudly presents the ultimate "bling on a shoe-string" for the embattled collector. In homage to Damien Hirst, the gallery, which was founded immediately next door to Damien’s restaurant on Ilfracombe’s harbour-side in North Devon, has commissioned a beautiful skull (fortunately not real) covered in exquisite diamonds (unfortunately also not real). Made by the famous Jimmy Crystal of New York, the skull is in fact completely decorated in glittering Swarovski crystal. Gallery owner Justin Easton explained that he had sold the work of Jimmy Crystal for a long time, usually in the form of jewellery an...